The present disclosure relates to a management server for managing account information and an image forming system including the management server.
Conventionally, there is known an image forming system including a management server for managing account information. For instance, the conventional image forming system includes a general-purpose certificate server as the management server. In addition, the image forming system includes an intermediate certificate server, a personal computer, an image forming apparatus, and the like. Further, the devices in the image forming system are connected so as to communicate with each other.
When the image forming apparatus is used as a printer, a user who uses the image forming apparatus inputs user information of the user (a user ID and a password) to the personal computer. The user information input to the personal computer is transmitted from the personal computer to the management server via the intermediate certificate server.
When receiving the user information, the management server checks whether or not the user information is correct information on the basis of a user account database. A result of the checking is transmitted to the intermediate certificate server. Further, if the user information is correct, the intermediate certificate server allows the user who has input the user information to use the image forming apparatus. In this way, it is possible to suppress unauthorized use of the image forming apparatus by a user who is not allowed to use the image forming apparatus.